It had been four days since the shoot. Musa had danced around Riven for two days, avoiding any sort of physical contact for fear that it would awaken something in her that they didn't want to even exist – he'd been curter with her, so she had a feeling he was too. Eventually, the awkwardness subsided enough that she could stand being in the same room as him without feeling like she was in her underwear once again. Musa still dreamt in violet, but she denied that much to herself. She didn't want to think of him in any way beyond their cold, professional relationship. She'd decided that they would remain cordial and, once Riven was no longer needed, would part ways and never speak to each other again, and she was pretty sure that would suit him just fine.

Cold water splashed on Musa's face, pulling her out of the dreamlike state she'd entered. She turned her head away from the terrace door – where she'd been staring after Riven poked his head out to make sure they were still alive – to find Bloom watching her with a cocked eyebrow. Her red hair was tied up in a useless messy bun that had gotten soaked the minute she'd gotten into the pool and dunked her head under the water, and she had a sunburn on her shoulders just a few shades darker than her hair. The eternal curse of the Irish, she'd joke every time she got a sunburn, which was often.

"Are either of you listening to me?" Aisha huffed, crossing her arms over her lime green bikini top. Some of her curly dark brown hair fell into her face and she blew it away.

"Yes. Nick -"

"Nex."

"Whatever" Bloom shrugged, "was hot and funny but spent two hours talking about himself and only asked you three questions about you."

"I will admit to not having been fully listening" Musa mumbled, darting her eyes away from Aisha's narrowing ones. The dancer grumbled about listening to Musa complain about Jared, which Musa pointed out was because Aisha loved to trash talk him. Aisha shrugged, not having a defense for that because, it was true, she did love to trash the actor every time he messed up.

"I don't know why you agreed to go on a second date with him in the first place if he was such a dick."

"Yeah, I thought you were happy being single" Musa added. "Queen of your own world, don't need no man and all that."

"He was nice on the first date. Also, I don't need a man, and I am happy by myself, thank you very much. It's her that wants a little more" Aisha stated, motioning dramatically to her crotch under the water. "And she would like someone that doesn't make my skin crawl or piss me off."

"I mean, I dunno, there's something to be said for hate sex."

Bloom and Aisha raised their eyebrows at her curiously. Musa groaned internally, knowing full well what the next question from either of them would be. She should not have said that. She had no interest in telling them that she'd hooked up with Post Malone at the People's Choice Awards after party two years ago, just after she and Andy had broken up. She'd been in a very vulnerable place, and very, very drunk. It had been decent sex, but she had no intention of ever repeating it. Or telling anyone about it. "Who have you had hate sex with?" Bloom asked, moving closer to Musa to poke and prod her into giving them an answer.

"That's not important." Musa swatted Bloom's hand away, but it did nothing to deter the redhead who continued to poke Musa, chanting for her to tell them.

"Is it -" Aisha was cut off by the terrace door sliding open. Tecna walked through, waving to them as she dropped her backpack by the door and stripped out of her shorts and t-shirt. She joined them in the pool, commenting on Riven seemingly being in a good mood. "Him" Aisha finished.

Musa denied having slept with Riven with a resounding no – not that she would say no if the opportunity arose. What was she thinking? Of course, she'd say no! Things were awkward enough between them after the photoshoot, she didn't dare imagine how awkward they'd be if they'd actually slept together. Unfortunately for her, the thought of sleeping with Riven brought up images of him in the tight boxer briefs from the photoshoot and questions of what may be under them. She felt the blood rush to her cheeks – and maybe other parts – and prayed the girls wouldn't notice.

"What's going on?"

"Musa wants to fuck her bodyguard" Bloom informed Tecna, winking and nudging Musa as she spoke. "Or maybe she already has." Musa rolled her eyes at Bloom. As much as she loved her, the redhead did have a habit of pushing Musa in a way that irritated her. Like now when she nudged Musa again and said: "Come on, admit it. You want his dick."

"No!"

Maybe.

"At the very least you think he's hot. You've already admitted to that" Aisha argued with a smug look on her face. Musa clenched her jaw, forcing herself to relax. She so badly wanted to wipe the smirk off Aisha's face and the accompanying raised eyebrow and grin on Bloom's. Tecna, bless her, had remained relatively expressionless. "Admitting that I think he's hot is not admitting that I want to fuck him" Musa managed through gritted teeth.

"So, you do want to fuck him" Bloom laughed as she swam to the opposite end of the pool and rested her arms over the edge. She winked at Musa, who groaned in response.

"Did you not hear me?"

"I heard I want to fuck him. That's all I need to hear."

"Can you fucking stop? He's right inside."

"It doesn't matter if she wants to sleep with him or not, Musa has a boyfriend, and she wouldn't cheat on him" Tecna finally argued, stepping in to side with Musa. Musa wanted to kiss her; she was the only one who would see to reason. It didn't matter to Musa whether Tecna's reason was that Musa thought Riven was a jerk – most of the time, she really wasn't sure anymore – or that Musa had a boyfriend, as long as Tecna was on her side.

"Musa hasn't seen Jared in like a week" Aisha scoffed. She wasn't wrong; Musa hadn't seen Jared in ten days, but they had spoken on the phone thrice during that time, including just yesterday. Musa had decided she'd take a chance and have him over. She'd already mentioned that she wasn't interested in getting Riven to quit, and Jared had reacted better than she'd expected given how adamant he'd been about the idea, so she was hoping that meant they could be in the same space. "He's in Toronto for an interview. He's back in New York this afternoon and coming by tonight."

Riven hopped out of the shower and wrapped the baby blue towel around his waist before wiping away the fog on the mirror. He ran his hands through his hair and grimaced. He needed a haircut; it was getting longer than Darcy liked. Not that it mattered since he hadn't seen in her in the two weeks since that disastrous double date, and he likely wouldn't be seeing her anytime soon.

In the distance, he heard a boisterous laugh that he assumed belonged to one of the girls. Musa had her friends over today, which meant very little work for him to do unless they decided to order in or something. Aisha and the redhead – Bloom, he was pretty sure – had arrived an hour ago. He'd let them in, and they'd exchanged a few quick words before Aisha announced they were going swimming and dragged Bloom upstairs to change.

After poking his head out to be sure they were all still alive, he'd headed into the gym for a quick workout. It was the one thing that still felt normal about his life. Strangely, working for Musa hadn't flipped his life around that much – he still cooked supper most nights, spent his evenings reading, watching TV or talking to Darcy, and worked – but none of it was the same as before. Work was constant; even while he was cooking supper, he'd have to check on Musa instead of just cooking. Talking to Darcy was never in person anymore and, as great as video chat was, it wasn't the same. The books weren't his, the living room wasn't his, the kitchen wasn't his. The gym wasn't the one he went to – Musa's was much cleaner – but as long as he had the same equipment, that didn't matter.

Now that he was done his workout, though, he didn't know what to do. He didn't feel like reading or watching anything, and he couldn't leave the house. He should have realised when he'd signed on for this that he'd be spending a lot of his time trying to fill time. After walking through the apartment twice, he settled on playing a game. It wasn't what he felt like doing, but it was the best option he could find at the moment.

Riven had just sat down when his phone started to ring. He'd expected it to be Darcy calling to talk or Saladin for an update on the assignment, though that was less likely on a Sunday. Instead, he found himself looking at a picture of a short, slightly chubby Latina with golden brown hair and big green eyes. Besides the odd text here and there, they hadn't spoken much in the last few months. Not that he wasn't happy to hear from her – he loved Flora like a sister – he was just surprised she was calling. "Hey."

"Hi sweetie!" He'd forgotten how sugary her voice was. Thick and rich like honey, a perfect match to her occasionally sickeningly sweet personality. He'd never met a person with as much love to offer as her; he was pretty sure he never would. Flora was the type that could find something positive about anyone she met, even when the whole world thought they were rotten, she would continue to peel away at them until she found something. That was the only way he could understand why she'd chosen to spend time with him of all people. "I have a surprise for you!"

"Is it flowers?" Flora sent everyone flowers for any occasion: birthday, anniversary, graduation, Father's Day, Mother's Day, Earth Day, Christmas, Hannukah, Valentine's Day, Labour Day, Independence Day, and literally every single holiday or event in between. It was only a week out from Independence Day so it would make sense that she would send flowers. She didn't usually call, though; the flowers would just show up at his door. Sometimes with an actual gift, sometimes just the flowers. That part was always a surprise.

"Better!"

"What could possibly be better than flowers?"

"I know you're teasing me, but the answer is nothing."

Riven adjusted on the sofa so that he was laying across it – as much as he could anyways – but just as he rested his head down, the doorbell rang. "Hang on a sec, Flora" he requested, getting off the couch to open the door. He peered through the peephole. On the other side was Tecna, who he'd met a few times at the studio, scrolling through her phone. He liked Tecna the most of Musa's friends; she seemed to be least high maintenance and the most level headed. Riven let her in, greeting her with a friendly hey and informing her that Musa and the girls were upstairs on the terrace.

"So, what's the surprise?" he asked, returning to his previous spot on the couch.

"Me!" Flora announced gleefully. Riven could practically see her jumping up with her arms flailing above her head. "We have some rich client getting married in Chicago, but she's based in New York and can't come out anytime soon. She's paying for me to fly into the city so we can discuss her floral vision for the wedding. I'll be there for a week and a half, and I thought while I was there, we could get supper or something."

"I don't think that's gonna be possible" he sighed. He would love to see Flora again; it had been far too long. He hadn't seen her since the last time she'd been to New York three years ago, and there was no way in hell he was going back to Chicago. Not even for Flora.

"Why not?" The disappointment in her voice killed him, but there was nothing he could do. He explained his work situation; how he was 24/7 security for Musa. It was only after he'd said her name that he remembered he was contractually obligated to be silent about his employer. He'd signed a non-disclosure agreement, and Musa, and her studio, could see him for everything he had and more if he talked about her or her projects. Not that he planned on going to the media and spilling whatever he knew about her anyways. But this was Flora. The girl was a fortress of secrets; she didn't believe in telling what wasn't hers to tell. He could tell she was upset they would probably not get to see each other, but she was completely understanding about it; it was one of the many things to appreciate about Flora.

Musa dropped herself onto the couch, handing the bowl of popcorn over to Jared. He'd arrived about an hour earlier and, much to her surprise, he and Riven had been completely civilized with one another. Jared had even gone so far as to offer a handshake and ask about Darcy. Riven's answer had been short, and he'd refused Jared's handshake, but he hadn't been a complete dick either, so she considered it an improvement.

"How's the album going?" Jared asked, taking a handful of popcorn from the bowl and placing it on the coffee table.

"Almost done! We've just got a few final things to work out on the last song." Musa was really excited about this album. It would be the first where she'd had complete creative control. Sure, the songs on all her previous albums were hers, but the label had always gone back and had critiques and comments to make about every single thing from her lyrics to the way she hit certain notes to the outfits she wore in the videos. Her new label, though, had let her have executive creative decision on everything and she was so excited for her fans to hear it. Her sixth album – liberation – would finally be all her.

"Do you have a release date yet?"

Musa sucked in her lips, trying to control the smile on her lips. Jared, leaning forward to grab more popcorn, raised an eyebrow at her, prompting her to spill whatever information she had. The girls already knew – even Stella all the way in Turks and Caicos – but she was dying to tell the world, even if she knew she couldn't. "I can't tell you that, but we're shooting the video for the first single in a week and a half, and it releases not too long after that." The plan was to release the video at eight AM in a bit less than a month, accompanied by the surprise release of the whole album an hour later. Musa wasn't expecting it to be anything overwhelmingly successful – she wasn't Beyonce – but she wanted the release to be as true a representation of her as the album was, so she was opting for a lowkey release instead of the big spectacle her old label used to put on.

"Why can't you tell me?" he asked, taking the remote from the arm of the couch and lightly prodding her arm with it. Musa grabbed it from him and turned on the movie. "Sworn to secrecy" she explained, dropping the remote on the couch beside her and cuddling into his side. Jared threw his arm around her shoulder and rested his cheek on the crown of her head, settling in with her while the title credits played.

Riven hated him. He couldn't figure out why, but everything about Jared irked him. He was a rude, arrogant, opportunistic little turd. Riven didn't ignore the fact that rude and arrogant were words that had also been used to describe him at multiple points in his life, but he was different than Jared. For starters, he wasn't all that arrogant; people thought he had a much higher opinion of himself than he did and they wrote him off as arrogant. Jared, though, seemed to actually be. Riven had asked Mirta about him and, after she'd finished teasing him about the reasoning behind the question, she mentioned that she thought Jared was a bad person – which was about as awful a comment as you could get from sweet, timid Mirta.

Deciding that it would do him no good to hang around and let his hatred of Jared fester, Riven set himself up in the hot tub with a smoothie in hand and his laptop propped up on the corner of the tub. He knew it was precarious placement, but he was careful. Besides, it was a work computer; if he broke it, he just had to call Timmy and he'd get a new one just as quickly as he broke the current one. He would never do that, though, and he treated his laptop as if it were precious even with the knowledge that he could get another. He didn't like being wasteful with his things.

He stayed in the hot tub watching Vikings until his fingers wrinkled and his stomach growled. He'd skipped supper because Jared had been with them, and he was starting to regret it. He tried to ignore his stomach – he really didn't want to see Jared. He almost set about pretending he was eight and that going to bed hungry was his only option, but he couldn't. He needed to eat and he sure as hell wasn't going to let some little prick make him starve when he had so much food available.

Reluctantly, he made his way into the apartment, toweling off before entering. Through the living room door, the back of Jared's head was visible, staring down at his lap. Musa was not visible, but that wasn't surprising since he could hear her moving around the kitchen. The TV was paused on a shot of – surprisingly – one of his favourite movies. "Are you guys watching Airplane!?"

"Huh?" Jared faced him, confusion etched on his face for a brief second before he registered Riven's question. He glimpsed back at the TV. "Oh, yeah. Musa likes this movie."

"What do you think?" Riven crossed his arms, leaning onto the frame as he waited to see if Jared truly was a moron. In his opinion, everyone should like this movie; it was stupid as could be, but that was part of its charm.

"I don't get it. It's fucking stupid."

Yup. Moron.

"I'm just watching it so tha-" Jared was cut off by Musa walking in. He didn't finish his sentence, so Riven assumed whatever he was going to say was stupid or inappropriate and he didn't particularly care to find out.

Once Riven had finished up in the kitchen and gone back upstairs, Jared reached for the remote and paused the movie. Musa adjusted, lifting herself onto her elbow to glance at him. He took a breath through tight lips while his hand absentmindedly plucked at the edge of the couch's arm. He looked angry and Musa wasn't sure what had happened; he'd been fine a few minutes earlier. "Wha-"

"Are you sure you don't want to get him to quit?"

Musa narrowed her eyes at the actor. Hadn't she made it clear she wasn't interested in his plan? Why was he still bringing it up? "Yes, I'm sure."

"But -"

"Jared, what is going on? Why are you so insistent that I go through with it?"

"He was such a jerk -"

"And we're past that. We've managed to be cordial and he's good at his job. I take criticism from people far meaner than him on a daily basis and you don't feel the need to get all of them fired." It would take more fingers than the two of them had available to count out all the horrible things people had said about her over the years: fake, talentless, annoying, rude, bitchy, slutty, anorexic, ugly, and so much more, not to mention all the racial slurs. She'd never actively looked up what people said about her, but somehow it had always been brought to her attention. At first, it had bothered her immensely – which had vexed her all the more because Musa had never been one to care what people thought of her all that much – but Tecna had stolen her phone one particularly rough day while they were on tour for her second album and blocked all articles about her. Since then, she'd regrown the thick skin she'd had before becoming famous, and she couldn't be bothered to care what they said. Riven had only bothered her because he'd had the guts to say it to her face. In retrospect, she admired that kind of authenticity, even if it was a negative comment about her.

Jared ran his hands through his short, black hair before dropping them onto his lap. His mouth opened and closed several times, but he seemed unable to find the words he wanted. Musa scooted closer to him, resting her hand on his shoulder. He was tense; tenser than she'd ever known him to be. Even during their fights, he never tensed up like this. "Jared, what's going on?"

"He..." Jared started, groaning dramatically when the words didn't come to him. Musa instructed him to breathe like Aisha would when she started to get needlessly worked up and, once he'd sufficiently calmed down, asked him once again what had him so worked up. "He's a jerk" Jared repeated.

"Yes, I know that. Anything else?" Musa was starting to lose her patience. She was all for heart-to-heart conversations with the people she loved – when it was their heart to bare; she preferred to bare hers in songs – but she also had a limit of just how much beating around the bush she could suffer through.

"And he's... hot" Jared finished slowly. Musa furrowed her brows and cocked her head, not quite understanding the correlation. Yes, Riven was hot. Really, really fucking hot. And yes, she'd fantasized about him once or twice... maybe more – not that she'd admit that to anyone, especially her boyfriend. So? "When we first started dating, you made a joke about hot jerks being your type..."

Why was everyone bringing that up? First her dad, now Jared. Soon Aisha would be mentioning it. Oh God, and then Stella would be back from her honeymoon, and she'd jump on the hot jerk bandwagon too. What a nightmare. Jared was right, though, she had said that during the early days of their relationship when she'd told him about what had transpired with Andy. "Didn't I also say I wasn't interested in continuing that pattern?"

"Well...yeah, you did" Jared admitted. A smile touched his lips and Musa returned it.

"And you can't possibly think I'd dump you for him?" Jared hesitated. Why the fuck was he hesitating? He couldn't... No. Sure, Riven was attractive. And, sure, he was around her all the time. She knew that meant that she knew exactly how much she didn't like him (right?), but Jared didn't. Did he... No, he couldn't. "Do you think I'd cheat on you with him?"

"No!" Jared replied immediately. Musa relaxed, letting the frustration that had started to wind up in her uncoil. "I know you would never cheat on me. I just... I dunno. Maybe it's stupid."

"Uh... yeah, a bit" Musa agreed slowly. She didn't want Jared thinking she thought he was stupid, just that his worries were. Even if by some twisted chance she were into Riven, she would never cheat. She knew how much it hurt and she would never inflict that pain on anyone. "Look, Riven is not a threat to us. I like us, I'm happy in us."

"Yeah?"

"Yes" she assured him.

"Can I ask you a question then?" His hand reached up for hers, still placed on his shoulder. She nodded and he took a deep breath. "I've been back for two weeks now – minus the few days I was in Cali and Toronto – and we haven't had sex..."

Shit. He was right. At the beginning of their relationship, they'd barely been able to keep their hands off each other. Musa liked sex – no, loved sex – she had no shame in that. Women were just as sexual as men even if they weren't supposed to be, and she refused to deny herself something that gave her so much pleasure just for the sake of appearing ladylike. She would have thought that after three months apart, Jared would have barely made it through the door before she jumped his bones. "We haven't had the chance..." she reasoned. "We're either in public or he's around."

"I know you want to finish the movie, but, uh, he's not around right now..."

Musa looked around the room. She knew Riven wasn't around, she had heard him walk up the stairs and head into the back balcony, but she wanted to double check. "You're right. He's not" she agreed. The hand on his shoulder slipped down the front of his chest to the hem of his shirt, middling the soft cotton between her fingertips before her hands slid up his shirt. Jared was quick to respond, pushing his hand into her hair and pulling her into a kiss. He tasted like butter and beer, but she didn't mind, as long as he took her somewhere else. Jared's free hand slipped onto her waist and brought her closer. Musa obliged him, pausing the kiss to swing her leg over his so that she was straddling him.

She felt his hands push the back of her shirt up enough for him to slip under it. Ducking her head down, Musa planted kisses on his neck, relishing in the soft moan that escaped his lips. She loved the power that she had over him; loved the way she could get men to submit to her. Her hands tugged at the bottom of his shirt, pulling it over his head and discarding it on the floor behind the couch. Jared made quick work of hers, dropping it on the couch beside him and returning his hands to her chest. His hands dipped under the band of her bralette, and she felt his fingers squeeze her nipples, drawing a moan out of her. Her hips began rocking against him, desperation building in her.

Riven didn't know why he was surprised; he knew Musa and Jared were a couple, knew very well what went on in people's bedrooms. Still, he hadn't expected to check the camera – which he did every half hour – to find Musa straddling Jared topless on the couch. He'd frozen. Never in his time working security had he come across people having – or about to have – sex.

Somehow, he found himself transfixed at the screen, watching Musa grind against Jared. He wondered what she liked. Was she into slow and sensual? Or was she secretly really kinky? Did she have a thing for rough sex? Would she object if he bent her ov – no. What the fuck was wrong with him? He closed the camera screen, telling himself he would wait an hour to check in again lest he come across them mid-fuck. He didn't want to see that. Didn't want to hear that either – hopefully they weren't loud.

Ultimately, Riven decided he didn't want to find out, so he ran into the apartment to get his earphones from his room. An hour later, he checked the cameras and found Musa sitting on the couch alone. He debated silently for a few minutes before deciding that he would go down for the beer he'd been thinking of for the last twenty minutes.

Hopefully Jared was fucking dressed. Riven hadn't noticed if his clothes were strewn around the living room – he should have looked. If he came face to face with a naked Jared he might just have to scoop his eyes out with a melon baller. Did Musa have a melon baller? Musa, though, he wouldn't object to – No! Not that it mattered because he knew she was clothed. What he hadn't expected, though, was to find her sitting on the couch staring blankly at the black TV screen – it had been on a few minutes earlier. "Musa?" he called, hoping she wasn't in some zombie-like trance. He'd found his mother in one once and when he'd shaken her awake, she'd tried to attack him. Musa seemed to shake herself out of whatever trance she was in and turned to face him with puffy red eyes and tear-stained cheeks.